Thoughts on...Sleep & My Nightime Routine.

Happy Tuesday, friends! Today is actually my Friday (two-day weeks should really become more of a thing) because we're doing a little road trip for the rest of this week! I'm SO excited to get away from my normal routine a little bit and explore some fun New England destinations (think: lots of eating/breweries/wine/hiking). SO beyond ready - didn't know how much I needed this break until it snuck up on me.

I've actually been thinking about my evening routine, because I can't even tell you the number of times that I've woken up for work lately and felt utterly depleted and exhausted, despite getting myself into bed at a reasonable time. I've realized that although I have a pretty solid and dependable morning routine - I don't have an awesome evening routine to wind down. Here are the things I'm going to try and improve on in the month of July in regarding to my sleep habits. I'll check in with you guys and definitely keep you posted on how I'm feeling! Let's get into it <3

1. Replace my phone with a book 30-60 minutes before bed. Now that we've launched the podcast, and I also do some blog work after my 9-5 during the week, I've found myself getting in a habit of being on my phone and/or laptop right up until we go to bed for the night. While it's definitely efficient, I know the screen time right before bed isn't the best thing in the world. I want to replace my phone/laptop time with a good book most days of the week (realistically, I know that this can't happen every single night) so that I get a good break from screen time. I also want to try using an alarm clock (think: old fashioned style) instead of my phone. I also want to try to keep my phone in a different room so that I truly can't check it until I have both feet on the ground for the day. This will definitely be the biggest challenge - stay tuned!

2. Replace wine with my Four Sigmatic blends most nights of the week. I talked about my new outlook on drinking in this post, but given that it's summer weather, I've found myself having a glass or two of wine (or Willie's Superbrew!) in the past week. I'll be honest - I don't love how I feel sleep and energy-wise when I make this choice (sad but true). So, I'm going to focus on drinking some Spindrift, Four Sigmatic adaptogen blends, kombucha, or just plain water most nights of the week to ensure that I'm sleeping soundly.

3. Drink Natural Calm a couple hours before bed. Natural Calm is chock-full of magnesium, which promotes solid sleep. I drink this most nights, but I want to keep this habit up to make sure that I'm meeting my daily magnesium allowance to help me sleep a bit better/more deeply.

4. Avoid snoozing in the AM. I've unfortunately gotten into the habit of snoozing my alarm some days of the week. And while it feels like the right decision for those 5 extra minutes, I almost always feel even MORE groggy than I did in the first place. I want to make it a habit to just get up whenever I hear my alarm at 5:20, as opposed to hitting the snooze button to make sure that I get in a workout before work (it just doesn't happen after work). I think that getting an alarm clock will help with this! *Good news, it worked this Monday morning and even though I felt awful in the first five minutes, I quickly woke up and felt great!*

5. Avoid coffee in the afternoon. I've reintroduced coffee into my mornings (typically just a cup of coldbrew) because I absolutely love the routine and I missed it. HOWEVER, I sometimes draw that cup out over the course of multiple hours in the morning, to the point where it's the afternoon, and I'm still finishing it. I want to commit to limiting my caffeine consumption to PRIOR to 12PM, meaning that if I'm going to drink it, it has to be in the AM. I think this will help any sleep disruption that caffeine may be causing.

Sleep/feeling rested can be such a tricky thing, so I want to know from you guys - have you ever struggled with waking up feeling exhausted? Any tips and tricks to add to this list? Would love to hear!